On Saturday, I attended the Interior Design Show West, held at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Future Masters
Although I enjoyed the whole show, Future Masters, which showcases the work of design students and recent graduates, was the highlight for me. Although this can be partially attributed to the fact that I was already familiar with the work of many of the other vendors (woodworkers especially), you’ll soon see why that isn’t the only reason I spent so much time in their booth.
The first piece that caught my attention was Wicker Coffee Table by Arthur Hobden. This image was from his website; the prototype he brought to the show utilized birch for the table top.
The table is comprised of a large bent lamination supported by a cantilevered frame made of flat steel, hidden behind a series of dowels. I really liked the effect provided by the dowels. However, I did not care for the open triangle which Arthur included for stability. He and I discussed the design and possible ways to eliminate the triangle.
I took this picture of his birch prototype which showed the dowels a little better.
The prismatic interior of the night club designed by Avery Titchkosky captured my attention first, but what I found really fascinating was the Scissor Stair. It’s a very interesting form that fits two staircases into the space of one the same way as a double helix.
It took me a while to realize why the form was so interesting – one staircase, instead of running parallel to the walls, is angled at an approximately 20-degree angle. The staircase was showed off nicely in the two-sided glass wall overlooking Vancouver’s Granville Street in his Friday Night on Granville Street rendering.
Industrial designers, Charlotte Kennedy and Xiaolu Wu, worked together to design The Three Stool. Their goal was “to use the least amount of materials while maintaining maximum strength.”
Made predominantly from western maple, steel was also used to reinforce the stretcher. Despite a noticeable amount of flex in the design, I felt secure sitting on the stool.
The team of Jason R. Miller, Kirk Loveland and Yoyo Wu also took on the challenge of creating a lightweight stool from maple. They came up with design, which reminded me of my V-Table. I liked the clean lines of their stool, though I wasn’t too keen on the fibre rush seat. They also had on display a previous prototype which featured a cast aluminum seat (you can see many more of their stool ideas on Jason R. Miller’s website).
And that is what caught my attention at the first booth I saw at the show. According to Arthur Hobden, Future Masters was given the booth right at the entry because they put on a good show. I had no doubt.
Around the Interior Design Show West
I always enjoy looking at all the shapes and combinations of lines in jewelry. I liked the incorporation of a level vial in the Balance series from EvenDesign. I suggested that they make a hair band to show whether or not someone is level-headed.
I also snapped these pictures of some interesting shapes in wall tiles. I think that this one would look sharp carved into a wood panel.
The shape of these tiles made me thing about making a stool seat.
Fun highlights of the show included a game of table tennis being played on a dining table at the BoConcept booth and the latest work from Judson Beaumont of Straight Line Designs, Inc. (PS: Next month, Judson and I are leading a seminar at Lee Valley Tools, Coquitlam on developing ideas into finished products.)
Links:
- Interior Design Show West website
- Arthur Hobden’s website
- The Three Stool on Charlotte Kennedy’s website
- Isosceles on Jason Roy Miller’s website
- tear drop level necklace on evendesign’s website
- BoConcept’s website
- Judson Beaumont/Straight Line Designs website
- Lee Valley seminar – Working with Wood: Nurturing, Creating and Realizing Ideas
Sculptural Woodwork by Chris Wong 